Centrifugal equalizer distributor



p 1957 H. J. GOODYER 2,804,882

CENTRIFUGAL EQUALIZER DISTRIBUTOR Filed Jan. 26, 1954 35' Q5 INVENTOR.

BY HAROLD J. GOODYEI? FIG. 4 FIG. 5 ATTORNEY United States Patent CENTRIFUGAL EQUALIZER DISTRIBUTOR Harold J. Goodyer, Evanston, 111., assignor to Air Conversion Research Corp., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application January 26, 1954, Serial No. 406,113

4 Claims. (Cl. 137-561) This application relates to a distributing device and more particularly to a centrifugal type distributor head for feeding liquid, liquid-gas, gas or vapor in a finely divided state from a single source of supply to a plurality of discharge orifices.

The device to which this invention relates is adapted to be attached to the outlet end of a flow line in order to convert a liquid stream, with or without solid in suspension (graphite in oil), into a finely divided state; or to more uniformly distribute liquid particles in a gas stream before the gas-liquid stream is applied to the work locus; or to properly distribute the fluid to a plurality of points depending on the requirement of each. The device has a wide scope of application as, for example, in lubricating bearings, supplying cutting fluid to metal work operations such as tool cutting, grinding, tapping, turning, checking, drilling, boring, end milling and grinding; coating, humidifying, carburetion (vapor distribution); and liquid, gasliquid, solid-gas, solid-liquid, gas-gas and liquid-liquid mixing operations.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application, Serial No. 364,902, filed June 29, 1953.

In order to enable the invention to be better understood, reference is made to the accompanying drawing of which Figure 1 is an enlarged vertical cross-section taken through the center of a device constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a full size perspective view of the device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the rotor forming a portion of the device shown in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the shaft to which the rotor shown in Figure 3 is attached; and

Figure 5 is a plan view of a slug which functions to fasten the rotor to the shaft.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a circular barrel or casing formed with an externally threaded hollow neck 3 centrally of its top side and an open bottom. The bottom is closed by a plate 5 fastened in place by screws 7 passing through spaced holes in the plate and screwed into threaded recesses 9 tapped in the bottom of easing 1. The side wall of the casing is formed with a plurality of spaced, threaded openings 11. Although the number of openings 11 shown in the drawing is 8, the number may be more or less than 8, depending on the number of Work pieces to which efiluent is to be supplied. The plate 5 is formed with a threaded inlet 13 to which a supply line is adapted to be fastened.

Mounted in the neck 3 is a sleeve or bearing hub 15. The hub 15 is hollow and is preferably press-fitted into the neck 3. The ends of the hub are counter-bored to provided bearing-supporting recesses 17 into which the annular bearings 19 are press-fitted. These bearings are preferably ball "bearings fitted into inner and outer races. A spindle or shaft 21 is rotatably mounted in the bearings 19. To the lower end of shaft 21 is rigidly fastened a circular-shaped rotor 23. The rotor 23 is directly" opposits openings 11 and the periphery of the rotor is spaced from the inner wall of casing 1. A washer 25 having an outside diameter not exceeding that of the inner race oflower bearing 19 and a central hole just suflicient in diameter to permit the lower end 26 of shaft 21 to pass therethrough with the undercut shoulder 27 of the shaft resting on the washer. The upper end of the shaft 21 is threaded to receive a nut 28 in order to hold the shaft' and rotor in place. 'An internally threaded cap 29 is screwed onto neck 3 to enclose the top of the casing 1.

The rotor 23 is formed with thin, flat circular top and bottom plates 31 and 33, respectively. The top plate 31 is formed with an upwardly deformed central portion 35, having a central hole. A metal slug or washer 35" similar to washer 25 is inserted in the recess formed by derormed portion 35. This slug is of such thickness as to be flush with the under surface of rotor plate 31. The lower end. of shaft 21 passes through the central hole in the slug,

The lower end is cup-shaped as shown at 36 to permit together.

chined to pass into central opening 37.

The rotor 23 has a series of spaced thin, vertical, rec-" tangular-shaped blades 41 mounted between plates 31 and.

33 adjacent the periphery thereof. The blades are mounted between the plates so that each blade makes an acute angle with the radius drawn from the centerof the' rotor to the outer edge of the blade. The blades'are sufficiently long so that the inner edge 43 of one blade will extend a short distance beyond the radius drawn from the center of the rotor to the outer edge 45 of the adjacent blade. The blades 41 are formed with tongues 47 two on the lower edge and two on the upper edge, which pass through matching openings in the plates 31 and 33 and then are bent down flat against the plates to hold the blades solidly in position. As shown in Figure 3, the two tongues 47 indicated belong to one blade. Although I prefer to set the blades so as to make an angle of about 45 with the radius drawn from the center of the plate to the outer edge of the blade, the angle may vary somewhat provided the overlapping relation of the blades is maintained so that there is not a straight line unobstructed passageway from the center of the rotor to an outlet 11. The rotor when assembled may be furnace-brazed, par ticularly in sizes above one inch diameter to insure that the blades are held tight and rigid.

Pipelines or flexibles hoses with or without nozzles at the end thereof can be screwed into the outlets 11 in order to distribute the effluent from the distributor to the desired loci.

The operation of the distributor is apparent from the foregoing description. The fluid entering through inlet 13 is fed to the center of rotor 23 under superatmospheric pressure. The pressure may range from 10 pounds to 200 or 300 pounds depending on the service required. It should be sutiicient to cause the rotor to rotate rapidly, thereby causing intimate mixing if two or more materials are fed to the distributor and eflecting finer subdivision of liquid particles in the feed. Not only does the distributor act as an effective mixing device, it also functions to distribute the fluid evenly among the multiple outlets so that a plurality of jobs can be serviced simultaneously by a single distributor. Thus, if a plurality of lines are connected to the distributor, with one or more lines having larger discharge ports than others, the distributor distributes the liquid particles suspended in the gas to each line in accordance with the ratio of the compressed fluid required, thereby preventing the smaller lines from becoming starved for liquid.

It will be apparent that the distributor can be built in P atented Sept. 3, 1957- difierent sizes adapted to the particular job for which it is'intended'tobe used.

The rotor in the distributor constructed as above descri ed will rotate at peedsroi about 1 0112- 990 RJP. when charged with {compressed-gas QQl air carry ing snspendedliguidfor volume equalization t0 amultiple, of discharge ports, discharging to (atmospheric pressure. In order .to Obtain maximum benefit ,fromflthe distributor, the nelocity offthe ,gas charged, to the distributor should be suflic'ient to attain the aforesaid rotor ,R. ,P. M and the siomblined {area of .the outlets 11 Should be greater than that of inlet 13 to'avoid backpressure. .Thus, it is possible :to attain R. P. IMJS of 10'0 010-6Q0'0 when (changing air or gas .at atmospheric temperature and at pressures of 16 to 10.0 p. ,s. i. if the combined area oi the discharge ports is 15 percent ,greaterthan the area of the suppl -line. "If the discharge ports have an area 3,0 percent greater than that of the supply line, R. P. MLs .of 81)!) to XQGOmay be attained. In addition to the effect of cha gin pressure, the speed of rotation will depend to some extent on the volume and specific gravity of liquid particles which are suspended in the air or gas stream. Thus, .as the volume and ,specific gravity become greater, a'jgreate'r total .area of discharge ports is required to ,atta'in a given rotor R. P. M. The higher .the R, P. M. that can'be attained, the more efficient willlbe the equalization of discharge to atmosphere through multiple discharge ports.

'The distributor head shown and described can be made (if any desired metal such as aluminum, magnesium or their alloys, brass .or stainlessjsteel. Plastic may also :be used particularlyffor the casing.

I claim:

1. A distributor comprising :a casing, a rotor rotatably mounted in said casing, said casing having an inlet opening into the central portion of said rotor and a plurality of spaced outlets directly opposite the periphery of said rotor, the rotor being formed of spaced parallel circular plates with a plurality of blades therebetween and adjacent the periphery thereof, said blades being set at an angle to each adjacent bladerand being of suflicient length to obstruct straight line passage (of fluid from the .center to the periphery of the rotor. V

2. A distributor in accordance with claim 1 in which said inlet opening is formed as an integral part of a removable end plate of said casing and said removable plate is sufiiciently large to enable the rotor to be removed from the casing.

3. A distributor in accordance with claim 1 in which the rotor is rigidly mounted on a spindle which in turn is rotatably mounted in bearings in said casing, said spindle being fastened to the end plate more remate if'rom the inlet opening. 7

4. A distributor in accordance with claim 3 in which the spindle is held in place by a nut threaded .onto one end of the spindle and the casing has a removable cap directly opposite said nut.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,43 ,009 Bntterfield Nov. 21, 1922 2,012,454 McDermet Aug. 27, 1935 2,287,822 Gdor et'al. June 30, 1942 2,609,142 Wirz Sept. 2, 1952 

